Hot Wheels Games Provide Perfect iMac Test Vehicle

This weekend, 4 year-old Sam was playing his beloved Hot Wheels games on our 4 year-old iBook G4. He was complaining about the game being too hard for him to play (he couldn't advance levels by winning races) so I reluctantly agreed to try to get him past the first level. After playing the game for a few minutes, it seemed like the computer was running really slowly, so I tried the same game on my work computer (a Lenovo T61p laptop). Wow- it was so fast I couldn't believe it! And the game was actually pretty fun. We spent the next half hour having a great time as he encouraged me to complete each level and unlock new cars.

This gave me an idea: This web-based game would be the perfect test for the 21.5" iMac I've been eyeing for a potential family Christmas present. We stopped in at the Apple Store today to give it a try. We walked into the store and found an open station in front of the machine we're considering. I pointed the Safari web browser to HotWheels.com and navigated my way to the famous "Colors Shifters Track Action" game. A pop-up appeared saying that the Adobe Shockwave Player wasn't installed and prompted me to download and install it. I was familiar with this maneuver on the Mac since I upgraded the version of Shockwave on our iBook just yesterday so I proceeded with the download and installation.

Unfortunately in order to install Shockwave you need admin privileges, but just as I was about to give up, a friendly Apple Store employee appeared. He typed in the admin and installed Shockwave. As it was installing, it said something about 32-bit vs. 64-bit but we plowed forward and completed the installation (don't we always plow forward?). We reloaded the web page and although it didn't complain about Shockwave any more, Safari rendered an empty box where the game normally appears. Hmm... "What's up with that?" I thought.

The employee jumped over to a neighboring machine, did a quick Google search and then came back over to our machine. He did a Apple-key/"I"-key combo, brought up Info on the Safari application, asked it to open in 32-bit mode, and restarted it. We navigated to the game page again and this time it rendered correctly. We played the game and it was very fast.

This little 32-bit flakiness is something that I thought would be an advantage of Snow Leopard vs. Windows 7 (Apple's latest and first full 64-bit OS I believe, whereas Microsoft still asks you to choose which version of the OS you want to install: 32-bit or 64-bit). Turns out, there's components in the system that still need to run 32-bit and you might have to occasionally fiddle with this on a per-application basis.

Lest you think this is going to be a Mac-bashing piece, I thought I'd related a similarly frustrating story from this past week on my PC which also relates to Shockwave. A while back, I noticed a Norton Security Scan application pop up. I thought perhaps it was a work thing, but it was hard to tell. Wherever it came from, it was very persistent and I had a hard time stopping it from scanning my computer once it started. After asking around, it sounded like I may have inadvertently installed it so, I removed it.

I noticed it came back recently when upgrading, you guessed it, Shockwave. Why in the heck would Adobe Shockwave install Norton Security Scan? Bizarre, but it does unless you opt out when you're clicking "next, next, next" to install Shockwave:


So what's the point of the story? The point is that all computers can be a pain in the neck. We can say all we want about one operating system being better than the other, but all computers suffer from some flakiness of one sort or another as part of doing the things we do with them.

But here's the thing... In terms of buying a computer, you've got to do something if you're interested in being online without getting frustrated waiting for a slow computer. And with the iMac, at least you have a snazzy looking machine that can run Mac OS -or- Windows. Look at these alternative all-in-ones from Best Buy. You've got to be kidding me- why can't the PC industry make a better looking computer?

Is Your Credit Card Company Listening to You?

When I got a call on my cell phone this week from a representative from Chase credit cards, my first thought was "unusual spending patterns" and concerns about a stolen card. However, it turned out to be a proactive call to seek to understand why we weren't using the card as much as we had in the past.

I explained that we use our American Express Blue Cash card as much as possible because it offers 1.5% cash back on everyday purchases. The agent did a good job of engaging in a dialogue about some features I might not be aware of with our Chase Cash Plus Rewards card, and I let her know how bizarre I've always found it that they don't offer any incentive to take a $50 gift card in lieu of a $50 statement credit (who in their right might chooses a gift card over cash?). But in the end they don't offer a card that offers 1.5% cash back for every day purchases, so I won't be making any changes in our card at this time.

But here's the thing that got me to blogging about this interaction... Although I thought it was great they were proactively reaching out to see what they could do to retain or earn more of our business, I mentioned that I blogged in detail about why I use the credit cards I use. I asked her if I could E-mail her a link to that blog entry and she told me she didn't have an inbound E-mail address that I could send the link to. Yikes.

For me, great companies should be out doing Google searches to see what people are saying about the credit cards they carry. They'll be searching Twitter for occurrences of their name and responding to criticism and praise. Or better yet, using listening tools like Google Alerts, Twitter search RSS feeds, or Social Mention.

Companies often say they don't have time for social media- but somehow they have time to call individual card holders to engage in lengthy conversations? I just don't get it. Social media, if used effectively, provides leverage and helps companies improve not just one customer's impression of their brand but the impression of everyone that person interacts with.

So, my advice to companies like Chase is to interact with people the way they want to be interacted with. If you really want to hear what people think of your brand, get on Twitter, empower your employees with E-mail addresses, and open up the lines of communication. Otherwise, I'm left with little confidence that you really want to hear what I have to say, and even if you do listen you won't be capable of acting upon the conversation.

He Knows Me So Well

Apple Mesmerizes with New iMacs (and Delivers Emporer's New Clothes Moment)

So, I'm really impressed with the updates Apple delivered this week. They've reloaded their product line-up quite nicely (after failing to impress with their most recent iPod touch refresh). Particularly interesting to me is the new iMac. Here's why...

When we remodeled our kitchen, I specifically wanted an area where the kids could play games do homework on the computer while still being part of the action. We built in a desk area with a couple of stations that I've envisioned being the perfect place for two little angels to quietly work. It hasn't quite worked out that way, but the kids (now for 4 and 2) do enjoy playing on our 4-year-old iBook for the most part. Occasionally, they'll fight over it and they sometimes get annoyed with it being too slow to run the Flash-based Noggin/Hot Wheels/Playhouse Disney games. I crack up when Sam says he wants to throw the computer (or Firefox itself) out the window. He's a chip off the old block.

So what's the Emporer's New Clothes moment? At about 1 minute into the video, which is a very well done promotional piece, Johnathan Ive is describing the display. He says they've discovered a way to take the glass "right to the very perimeter" of the machine which they have but then he goes on to say "there's just display and then no display".

Huh? What about the inch of the display around the perimeter that's black and is *not* display?

It's this kind of bizarre non-sensical statement that perplexes me and occasionally drives me crazy. First, what are they going to say when the display actually does go right to the edge of the machine? Second, everyone can see as he's saying it that it's not true. It creates, for me, this air of their products being beyond criticism. As in- if you have a problem with your PC, Windows sucks. If you have a problem with your Mac- you must be doing something wrong.

All of that said, I do think the iMac is leaps and bounds ahead of comparable all-in-ones currently on the market from PC manufacturers. I'm really digging the new widescreen display and the 21.5" size looks perfect for our situation. I'm entertaining the idea of running Windows XP (gasp!) on it.

Why? Well first, I imagine it would run incredibly fast, and increasingly I'm simply looking for the operating system to do very basic things. Like run the Google Chrome Browser and get out of the way. Or make it easy to run great free software like Picasa or TweetDeck (or whatever the great new thing is going to be in 2 years) without there being a lag before it is available on the Mac.

Another thing I haven't enjoyed about Mac OS X on the iBook is that I feel it is better suited to a desktop where you have a very large display and multiple windows up next to each other at the same the same time. Even on my desktop PC I have only 1 window up at a time and I switch through them on the taskbar. Why is this relevant? Well, since there's no right button on the iBook to make it a snap to right-click cut and paste, I find getting around on the iBook with OS X more cumbersome than on a PC notebook with a way to right-click. I know there's a way to create right-click zone on the touchpad with some additional software on Tiger, but that's clunky.

Okay, enough bashing. I love their hardware- think it's beautiful. I want an iMac for the family. This Christmas or sooner. Oh yeah- and I'm thinking about ordering it with a wired keyboard with all of the regular keys a PC has so I can delete-to-the-right/home/end with a single key.

By the way- if you haven't checked out the Fake Steve Jobs blog and you like this kind of stuff I highly recommend it. Here's 2 posts that I think capture the essence of his hilarious style:

• On hanging out with Bono
  
• On Google and their silly little text ads
  

What do you think? Is it time for a Mac? If so, is it time to crossover from a PC for the first time?